the chemical changes in the voltaic cell had received a great
deal of attention by many experimenters, the most prominent of
whom was Davy. To show that Volta's theory as to the source of
the current was not affected by these investigations, a
quotation from this letter is given below.

'You have requested me to give you an account of the
experiments by which I demonstrate, in a convincing manner,
what I have always maintained, namely, that the pretended
agent, or GALVANIC FLUID, is nothing but common electrical
FLUID, and that this fluid is incited and moved by the simple
MUTUAL CONTACT OF DIFFERENT CONDUCTORS, particularly the
metallic; strewing that two metals of different kinds,
connected together, produce already a small quantity of true
electricity, the force and kind of which I have determined;
that the effects of my new apparatus (which might be termed
electromotors), whether consisting of a pile, or in a row of
glasses, which have so much excited the attention of
philosophers, chemists, and physicians; that these so powerful
and marvelous effects are absolutely no more than the sum total
of the effects of a series of several similar metallic couples
or pairs; and that the chemical phenomena themselves, which are
obtained by them, of the decomposition of water and other
liquids, the oxidation of metals, &c., are secondary effects;
effects, I mean, of this electricity, of this continual current
of electrical fluid, which by the above mentioned action of the
connected metals, establishes itself as soon as we form a
communication between the two extremities of the apparatus, by
means of a conducting bow; and when once established, maintains
itself, and continues as long as the circuit remains